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The Language of Repentance in the Book of Mormon

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The Language of Repentance in the Book of Mormon Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Faculty Publications 2019-11-09 The Language of Repentance in the Book of Mormon Noel B. Reynolds Brigham Young University - Provo, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Reynolds, Noel B., "The Language of Repentance in the Book of Mormon" (2019). Faculty Publications. 3424. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/3424 This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. The Language of Repentance in the Book of Mormon Noel B. Reynolds Journal of Book of Mormon Studies (2020), forthcoming Abstract Efforts to understand the doctrine of repentance in the Book of Mormon have long been hampered by linguistic considerations—and especially the traditional translation provided in the King James Version of the Bible. Twentieth century studies provide a needed correction to this situation and open a wealth of potential new understandings of Book of Mormon discourse on repentance. Further, the discovery that the Book of Mormon uses the common biblical figure of speech of hendiadys repeatedly to expand and enrich the concept of repentance beyond biblical usage helps readers appreciate the ways in which repentance can be seen as the most central element of the gospel message in the Book of Mormon. Preliminary considerations The English words repent/repentance may provide one of the clearest examples of how the English translation of the Book of Mormon can insulate modern readers from the precise meanings of important terms as they would have 1 been understood by the Nephite prophets. Shaped by centuries of Christian usage, the modern English term evokes subjective feelings of penitence, regret or sorrow for misdeeds, and desires or intentions for moral reformation. In contemporary English-speaking cultures, references to repentance can usually be equated with expressions of remorse, confession of sins, efforts at restitution, performance of penance, or conversion to a religion or a moral way of life. While all these attitudes or actions are mentioned somewhere in the Book of Mormon, the Nephite prophets did not usually emphasize any of them when they spoke of repentance. Rather, their teachings about or calls to repentance described it as God’s invitation to all men and women to make or renew a covenant with him to take his name upon them and to keep his commandments. Readers may also be surprised to learn that biblical scholarship has largely ignored repentance as a topic for over half a century and that during this period studies in biblical theology “have typically given the theme only passing mention.”1 The same may be true for Book of Mormon scholarship during the 1 See the article and bibliography Mark J. Boda provides in “Repentance,” s.v., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville (editors), IVP Academic, 2012, 664–671. Two recent systematic monographs on the topic are Mark J. Boda, ‘Return to Me’: A Biblical Theology of Repentance, Intervarsity Press, 2015, and David A. 2 same period. There are many articles and books that quote the Book of Mormon on repentance and teach its importance. But I have not found any that attempt a comprehensive analysis of the concept as it would have been understood by the Nephites. The universal tendency is to explain the Book of Mormon teachings by reference to what is generally known from Christian traditions or the teachings of church leaders or to just assume that everyone already knows what it means. The findings of this paper call those assumptions into question and provide a more complete and coherent foundation for discourse that references Book of Mormon teachings about repentance. The Book of Mormon dictum to “preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord” seems to have guided the writings of Book of Mormon prophets from the beginning to the end.2 Different forms of the word occur 362 times in this text compared with the 162 occurrences in the entire King James Bible. This count does not consider other synonyms that occur in both texts and that will be examined below. But it does clearly identify repentance as a salient feature of Lambert, How Repentance Became Biblical, Oxford University Press, 2016. See also my review essay on these recent monographs: “Two New Studies of Biblical Repentance,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 27 (2017), 57-62. 2 See the instructions of Alma to newly ordained priests in Mosiah 18:20. 3 Book of Mormon teaching. In this paper I will attempt a systematic examination of the language related to this prominent element of Nephite preaching. It may also be surprising to most people of faith to learn how complex the scriptural concept of repentance really is. That complexity is reflected in continuing debates about appropriate translations for the vocabulary of repentance in both Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible, debates which are informed both by competing theologies and etymologies. This inquiry into the concept or concepts of repentance taught in the Book of Mormon was motivated by the hope that it might offer simpler resolutions for the debates over biblical understandings. The findings were mixed. On the one hand, the Nephite concept of repentance turns out to be even more complex and rich than what is presented in the Bible. On the other hand, the Book of Mormon consistently relies on an explicit and stable set of background theological assumptions that provides a clear context for references to repentance. And further, the complexity and richness of the concept is repeatedly presented through the common biblical rhetorical form of hendiadys that provides a level of order and control for its interpretation that is not evident in the biblical text, though it appears to be fully compatible with that text. In previous publications I have identified repentance as one of the six essential elements of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is presented in the Book of 4 Mormon.3 Abbreviated and full statements of this six-part gospel tend to lead with or emphasize the requirement of repentance.4 In 1996, I published a more detailed examination of the ways in which repentance is understood and taught in the Book of Mormon.5 In this new essay I will offer an exposition of the rich and complex family of terms used in repentance discourse in the Book of Mormon that reveals both connections to and differences from corresponding discourse in the Hebrew Bible, while it deeply enriches the Book of Mormon’s version of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While the New Testament is not irrelevant to this inquiry, Book of Mormon writers claimed no access to it, and for reasons of space, it will not be included. The following analysis will also explicate the evident centrality of repentance in that six-element gospel as taught by the Nephite prophets. 3 See Noel B. Reynolds, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ as Taught by the Nephite Prophets, BYU Studies, 31 (No. 3, Summer 1991): 31–50., “The Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan, 1992, 2:556–560, and more recently, “The Gospel According to Mormon,” Scottish Journal of Theology, 68 (2:2015): 218–234. 4 See Noel B. Reynolds, “Biblical Merismus in Book of Mormon Gospel References,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 26 (Spring, 2017), 106–134. 5 See Noel B. Reynolds, “The True Points of My Doctrine,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 5 (2), 1996, pp. 33–42. 5 The overall finding of the first half of this paper is that with few exceptions6 Book of Mormon discussions of repentance are fully compatible with the prominent use of the Hebrew verb shub that scholars have identified in the Old Testament. The Nephites repeatedly speak of repentance as turning or returning to God—to walk with him in his way, in the path of righteousness. Nephi had labeled repentance and baptism as the gate by which believers could enter the covenant path that leads to eternal life. This explains why the gospel or doctrine of Christ is referred to even more frequently in Book of Mormon discourse as the path or the way.7 And it helps us understand why the Book of Mormon prophets relied so 6 Hebraist Matthew L. Bowen has demonstrated that there are also passages in the Book of Mormon where the Hebrew naham would seem to be the likely underlying term for discussions of repentance as regret or stories of giving comfort. He offers Alma’s descriptions of the anguish he suffered for his sins in Mosiah 23:9–10 and again in Alma 36:12–14. Matthew L. Bowen, “‘This Son Shall Comfort Us’: An Onomastic Tale of Two Noahs,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 23 (2017), pp. 263–298. 7 In Noel B. Reynolds, “This is the Way,” Religious Educator 14 (No. 3, 2013): 75-76, I noted that while the Book of Mormon uses the terms gospel and doctrine 67 times to refer to Christ’s message of salvation, the metaphorical language of ways, paths, or roads is used 108 times. 6 frequently on the ancient doctrine of the two ways in their preaching.8 They clearly saw that there was “none other way” than the gospel of Jesus Christ as “the only and true doctrine of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” through which people could escape the captivity of Satan who strives to lead all into the ways of wickedness.9 A Note on Methodology Any attempt to compare the language of the Hebrew Bible and the Book of Mormon will in the final analysis remain speculative at some level.
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